I. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to communication, and more specifically to techniques for performing system selection and acquisition by a terminal.
II. Background
Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various communication services such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcast, etc. These systems may be multiple-access systems capable of supporting multiple users by sharing the available system resources. Examples of such multiple-access systems include Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) systems, Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) systems, Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) systems, Orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA) systems, and Single-Carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) systems.
A terminal (e.g., a cellular phone) may be powered on or may have just lost coverage. The terminal may search for a system from which it can receive communication service. The search may be time consuming, especially if a system has one or more configurable system parameters, and each such parameter can have one of multiple possible values. In this case, the terminal may perform acquisition for different possible combinations of values for the configurable system parameters in order to detect the system. Performing acquisition for a large number of possible combinations of parameter values may extend search time and consume excessive battery power, both of which are undesirable.